Jlacck

Hey fellas I had a question regarding a friend of mine's 96 LS400. We were trying to determine if his battery was being drained by his electronic set up (2 12inch subs, powered by 2 amps, plus 3 TVs and a few LED lights in various places on the car).

His car died out on him while driving last night. I gave him a jump and told him to not turn the car off for 20 minutes. He took a trip around the block but he didn't have enough power for his lights to even turn on. When I asked him to turn on his bright lights, his car died.

I gave him a second jump, and this time we noticed that his battery light comes on when he turns either of his blinkers on OR presses the brake pedal! Yet, the battery light goes off when he presses the gas pedal.

He said he had just replaced the battery about 4 or 5 months ago. This led me to suspect his Alternator may be going bad... (either that or perhaps all his electronics are drawing too much power from the battery?).

In any case, I was wondering if anybody could tell me a way to confirm if its an alternator or perhaps some other electrical issue associated with the battery and/or his electronics set up. Feel free to chime in if anyone has any thoughts. Thanks in advance.


J

Yamae

Sounds like a half dead alternator to me. Can you measure the voltage at the battery terminals?
Should be higher than 13.5V with the headlights ON at 1200rpm.
You'd better also check the power steering pump leaking. The leaking kills the alternator in a few months.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

i suspect the alternator as well. if you are running that much auxiliary i would invest in a high output alternator as a replacement. as mentioned, a leaking power steering reservoir can make that new investment toast in a few months as fluid makes it way down to the internals. the fix is a simple $3 o-ring at the bottom of the reservoir.

Jlacck

Yea I told him it was most likely a bad alternator and suggested that he have his car checked for a steering pump leak as well. My understanding is that ls400s are particularly prone to steering pump leaks resulting in bad alternators.

Anybody know good places to get an alternator?

peterls

I got a rebuilt Denso, 160amps (so a little stronger than needed) on E-bay almost a year ago, and it's still working like a champ.

SynicalVip

iTrader: (2)

Not to thread jack but going with a high output alternator don't you have to upgrade the cable so it will not melt?